Now You Know Who He Was

So you never heard of Charles Stillwell? Join the crowd. Millions of people use his invention every week. And the manufacturer of his product intends to make his name as familiar as the product itself

Stillwell invented the modern, stand-up paper bag, officially known as the SOS - self-opening sack - 102 years ago. He moved from his native Fremont, Ohio, to Philadelphia just about the time he filed for patent No. 279,505, covering a machine that would make flat-bottomed paper bags with pleats on the side.

Apparently he never sought a patent for the bag itself, but he sold the rights to the machine to Union Paper Bag Co., according to The Associated Press. He lived comfortably but wasn't a wealthy man.

And today, according to David Carleton, manager of the American Paper Institute's Kraft and Packaging Papers Division, Americans use enough paper bags to make it a $750-million-a-year industry.

The institute itself knew little about Stillwell until February, when it offered a $1,000 reward for information. His great-grandson, Rob Stillwell, was among the respondents, sending biographic data and pictures.

The institute has filed an application to include Stillwell in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. It's anxious to have him included in the U.S. Postal Service's Great Inventors stamp series. It wants you to know just how important Charles Stillwell really was.